Block copolymers such as those disclosed herein are useful as emulsifiers or stabilizers for dispersions or for modifying the surface properties of objects such as polymers, particularly acrylic based polymers. Random copolymers of .alpha.-fluoroacrylates and (meth)acrylates are known, see for instance L. S. Boguslavskaya, et al., Uspekhi Khemii, vol. 59, p. 1555-1575 (1990) [translation Rus. Chem. Rev., vol. 59, p. 906-917 (1990)]. However, this review article does not report any block copolymers. Group Transfer Polymerization (GTP) is a well known polymerization technique, see for instance, O. W. Webster, et al., "Group Transfer Polymerization" in "New Methods for Polymer Synthesis", W. J. Mijs, Ed., Plenum Press, New York, 1992, p. 1-32, but the polymerization of .alpha.-fluoroacrylate esters by GTP has not been reported.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,644,043, 4,665,144 and 4,871,820 describe copolymers of .alpha.-fluoroacrylate esters. None of these polymers are block copolymers.
T. Narita, et al., J. Fluorine Chem., vol. 61, p. 239-246 (1993) describe the anionic polymerization of .alpha.-fluoroacrylate esters to form homopolymers.